Xinjiang sees fast growth in service industry investment

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has attracted over 436 billion yuan in investment so far this year, and investment in the service industry has posted fast growth, the regional commerce bureau said. From January to September this year, a total of 436.6 billion yuan, (about 65.85 billion U.S. dollars) has been invested in the region, 83.72 percent of the annual target, the bureau said. About 57 percent of the investment is for new projects, said Wang Wenming, deputy director of the bureau. Investment in industries such as culture, tourism, logistics and financial services has grown fast, he added.

Foreign investment law enactment progresses

The enactment of China's new foreign investment law is progressing well, as the draft has been submitted for further discussion by the central government, the Ministry of Commerce announced. The move illustrated the country's desire to accelerate the modernization of its market access system, as well as strengthen the use of fair and transparent market principles. Gao Feng, spokesman for the ministry, said the law is expected to serve as a basic guideline for the reform of regulations on foreign direct investment. "The government will protect the legitimate rights of foreign investors and foster a stable, transparent and law-based business environment," Gao said at a regular news conference in Beijing. The ministry will collaborate with the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council to speed up the lawmaking pace in the next stage, he added. For the past several years, China has been ramping up efforts to expand investment access and unify laws and regulations while applying stable, transparent and predictable policies to foreign investment. The government has already introduced a negative-list approach in 11 pilot free trade zones to simplify the process for foreign investors in setting up their business presence in China. The negative list specifies investment sectors that are off-limits to foreign investors and opens industries not on the list, providing equal treating to overseas and Chinese companies. Gao said the ministry will replicate nationwide the negative-list approach used in its free trade zones. The negative list covers 15 sectors such as mining, leasing and financing. Among the sectors, 40 categories and 95 special management measures are included. Wei Jianguo, vice-president of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said the move provides a consistent national treatment for market entrance and reflects a major step forward in liberalizing the Chinese market for overseas investors. Researchers at accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a report that the adoption of a negative list in the market access system apparently makes it easy for companies to invest in businesses that are neither prohibited nor have limited access. "The approach also strengthens post-investment supervision and enables sharing and publication of information.... Not only those businesses in FTZs will be affected, companies from outside of FTZs will sooner or later be affected," said the report. In the first nine months, China's FDI inflows grew by 1.6 percent year-on-year, compared with a 0.2 percent drop between January and August, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Zhang Jianping, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, said while there were concerns about withdrawal of foreign investment in the past, the FDI structure has improved. "The FDI inflow is still growing, which can offset the outflows."

Chinese electric vehicle market sees more investment

According to a latest report of International Energy Agency, more than 750,000 EVs were sold worldwide last year, compared to 547,220 sold in 2015. China has surpassed the US to become the largest market for electric vehicles, acquiring 40% of the world’s total, twice that of the US. China is witnessing consistent support for new energy vehicles, including EVs. By 2020, the number of new energy vehicles sales is expected to top 2 million in a single year, according to a blueprint issued by the State Council in October. The data last year was about 507,000, while it is expected to exceed 700,000 in 2017. More than 4.8 million charging piles will be erected across the nation, suggesting a charging infrastructure market of over 100 billion yuan, the blueprint added. Almost all provincial regions in China have made public their ambition to build charging station networks to support the booming sales of new energy cars. EVs, specifically, are increasingly popular under the policy support. In 2016, the number of EVs sold in China was 256,000, up 121 percent year on year. Being the world’s largest market for electric vehicles, China has welcomed a latest injection of investment, which is expected to further upgrade the nation’s new energy infrastructure. Chinese leading car-hailing service provider Didi Chuxing on Wed unveiled its new joint venture projects to set up its own nationwide charging network for electric vehicles. “We have started new joint venture projects to build our own EV charging systems. Didi’s charging networks will not only cover our own fleet, but also serve families and the public,” Cheng Wei, CEO of Didi Chuxing, revealed at a sustainable energy summit jointly sponsored by the United Nations and the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO) on Wednesday in the US. International brands like Tesla also have their eyes glued to the Chinese market. After unveiling the plan to set up a factory in Shanghai, Elon Musk on Wednesday reportedly revealed that Tesla is expected to launch manufacturing in China within three years. Together with GEIDCO, Didi has set up the Global New Energy Vehicle Service Co., Ltd, whose new EV infrastructure plan is codenamed Orange Energy. “The future of transport is new energy vehicles, and ridesharing will be a key to promoting new energy on the road.” Cheng said.

Belt and Road countries eye Shaanxi FTZ

The Xi'an International Trade and Logistics (ITL) Park section of the Shaanxi (China) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) has attracted international attention after a global promotion conference was held in Xi'an, capital city of Shaanxi province, on Oct 28. A joint effort of the Xi'an ITL Park, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and its Xi'an branch, the conference brought together 135 business representatives from 35 countries and regions involved in China's Belt and Road Initiative. Huang Yuhui, deputy director of the ITL administrative committee, briefed the participants on the latest developments. A booming e-commerce industry cluster has seen the park accommodate over 600 enterprises led by such brands as Alibaba's OneTouch, Jingdong and Suning. Online sales make up nearly 80 percent of Xi'an's total revenue. The new finance industry booming inside the park has become a notable new engine of further growth, owning 60 percent of the financial leasing companies in the province. Xi'an Deputy Mayor Dong Jinwei extended a warm welcome to attendees on behalf of the municipal government and the province's citizens. The establishment of the Shaanxi FTZ has strengthened Xi'an's role as an essential part of the Silk Road economic belt, while the recent 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) announced promising prospects to Xi'an's development. The northwestern Chinese city is willing to embrace other cities, cooperating to deepen the Euro-Asia connection. After the conference, representatives were also shown around Xi'an Port, the Imported Wine Trading Base and the Xi'an Comprehensive Bonded Zone. Participants showed a keen interest in the ITL's inland port model, and were impressed that the international logistics system combining land, sea and air transport has dramatically reduced both time and cost. "I will share my experience of Xi'an Port with the minister back in Ghana and hope that further exchange can be enjoyed by both sides," noted a business official from the Republic of Ghana's Ministry of Trade and Industry. From its inauguration on April 1 to Oct 13, the Shaanxi FTZ had registered capital of 185.66 billion yuan ($27.94 billion) from 6,114 new enterprises.

Shanghai to build a free trade port according the highest international standards

Since the approval of the construction of the Free Trade Port in March, Shanghai has been aiming to build the port with the highest degree of openness. According to the State Council, the management of the FTP must be executed in line with the highest international standard under close supervision of state-authorized intensive management system. The State Council also directed that the FTP should be set up in Yangshan bonded port area and Pudong International Airport bonded area, for the two places fit the international mainstream standard of docking port and airport to save time and costs. The combination of Yangshan Port and Pudong Air Port can maximize Shanghai’s role as an international shipping hub. Yangshan Port reported 15.66 million container throughput in 2016. Zhu Min, deputy director of Shanghai Development and Reform Commission, said Shanghai Free Trade Port will boast the highest level of openness worldwide but the strictest management.

Dongjiang now world-class aircraft distribution center

A new A320 plane arrived in Tianjin Binhai international airport on Sept 22. It was the 1000th plane that the Tianjin Port Dongjiang Area of Tianjin FTZ has rented from ICBC leasing. To date, there are 1,000 rented planes in the Dongjiang, which has become the second biggest aircraft distribution center in the world after Ireland. Before 2010, there were about 1,900 passenger planes in China, 1,200 of which were rented from Irish leasing companies. In December of 2009 ICBC leasing rented out the first two B777-F air freighters. Since then, Dongjiang has used its free trade zone advantages to develop an aircraft rental model. Currently, China has 3,141 passenger planes. Sixty percent of them are rented out to users, and forty percent of those are rented out by Dongjiang. According to data from CAAC news, as of the end of 2016 China had 2,950 registered transport aircrafts and 2,096 registered aircrafts in general aviation enterprises. Eight aviation companies had more than 100 aircraft. As of the end of August, 2017 there were 3,141 aircrafts registered for transport and 2,230 registered for general aviation enterprises. The passenger aircrafts rented out by Dongjiang is 776, accounting for 25 percent of all aircrafts. Dongjiang rents out 214 general purpose aircrafts, about 10 percent of the country's total. The rapid growth of the aviation leasing industry promotes the development of the aviation industry generally. More and more Chinese leasing companies are going global, ready to face international competition. In March of 2016, the administration committee of Tianjin Port Dongjiang Area, ICBC leasing and Minsheng financial leasing launched a post-doctoral research center in support of the Chinese leasing industry.